Fast Food Failure? Maybe not...

So yesterday was a frustrating day. Yeah, second one in a row. Sucks. My husband found out that the part he needs for his car isn't one he can install himself. That means the car will definitely be at the shop for a while. The good news is that the patch he did seems to be holding, so we have a little time to prepare for the inevitable. Still aggravating, though.

I was really looking forward to letting off some steam at the gym, not to mention getting some miles in for the blog. After work I walked across the parking lot to the gym. I decided to take a couple of photos since I had told you how dark and creepy my gym was. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but my gym is in a historical building that used to be a movie theater in the 1950s. This is a picture of the ticket booth outside. It's okay during the day, but it's creepy once it gets dark.

Here is inside, from the balcony. You can see where the stage and movie screen used to be. All the weightlifting stuff is down there.

I'm usually in the balcony because that's where all the treadmills and ellipticals are. I didn't take a picture of that because it was full of people. I didn't want to add to the general creepiness of the place by being all stalkery. So what do you think? Creepy?

After I got my pics, I went to the dressing room to change. When I came back out, all the treadmills and ellipticals were empty. What luck, right? Nope. Turns out the circuit that powered that area of the gym blew or something. They were working on it.

Well, I was already there, so while they worked on it I went down to the strength machines and worked my shoulders a little bit. I have horribly weak shoulders. Seriously, it's hard for my to raise my hands above my head. So I did that. Then I went back upstairs to check the treadmills; they still weren't working yet. It's like the universe doesn't want me to get to Walden! I waited some more and tried out a few more machines, but eventually I had to go home. So I did go to the gym as promised, but I didn't get any miles in.

When I got home, everyone was in a bad mood: Michael about the car, my daughter because she had lost her mp3 player, and me because of the gym, the car, and one of our dogs had torn up the living room. Everyone wanted to eat out. We don't eat out too much. They wanted to go Long John Silvers for fish.

Now, I fully intended to get the healthy baked whatever with rice. But the thing is, I hate fish. I hate seafood in general. I always order chicken at seafood restaurants. The one exception is LJS's fish. I actually like it. So I caved. Now usually I would have 3 or 4 pieces of fish (drowned in lemon juice) and about 6 hush-puppies (also drowned in lemon juice). I knew I would be pushing it with my calories, so I only had two pieces of fish and three hush-puppies (and the lemon juice). I thought that if I skipped my fudge pops that evening, I would be under calories. I was wrong. When I got home and logged it, it put me 49 calories over.

Now, the old me would have quit the diet at this point. "Only four days in, and I've already messed up! This is impossible to do!" But last night I was able to look at the positives.

1. I ate much less at LJS than I normally would.
2. My calorie estimate was actually pretty accurate. 
3. I've done well for 3 2/3 days.
4. I've left the past 3 days with at least a few calories to spare.

So I wasn't even tempted to throw in the towel. I didn't have anything else to eat before bed. No fudge pops. Today I will stay under my calorie budget and carry on.

So here's my food from yesterday.

Breakfast: Whole wheat tortilla, two scrambled eggs, and 1/2 an avocado. 320 cal

Snack: Grapes. 29 cal

Lunch: Whole wheat pita stuffed with black beans, hummus, cucumber, and spinach with eggplant patties. 485 cal

Snack: Grapes 27 cal

Dinner: LJS--two fish pieces, three hush-puppies. 754 cal

Daily total: 1619

Bonus! I got 72 ounces of water in yesterday, and I'm still Co-Cola free!!

Today I'm hitting the gym again. Let's hope they have the treadmills working.

1307.51 / .5 / 1291.18 

The First Hard Day

Yesterday was the first really tough day I've had since starting this blog. As I was leaving work to head to the gym, my husband texted to let me know he was having car trouble. He'd made it home but needed a part. So I skipped the gym and went home so Michael could use my car for the part.

Car trouble really stresses me out. Michael and I have very different work schedules, so he has to leave the house 2 hours before I do. During the summer, it's not impossible for us to carpool, but during the school year, I take my daughter to school after Michael leaves. Having one car out of commission meant I would have to get up at 4:30, take him to work, come back, take our daughter to school, go to work, take a late lunch to pick him up at the factory where he works, drop him off somewhere to chill for a couple of hours so I could finish my workday, then when that was done, pick him up, pick up our daughter, and go home. I'm stressed just typing it!!

While Michael went to look for the part, I had all kinds of worst case scenarios going through my head. Before I even realized what I was doing, I had grabbed a package of Saltines and shoved one in my mouth. Then my daughter said, "Umm, Mom, not to bug you, but eating when you're stressed isn't the best thing."

I said, "But it's already in my mouth." I hadn't bitten it yet, just shoved the whole thing in there.

She said, "Give it to Valentine." That's my little dog.

I did it, too. I gave him the cracker rather than eating it. I was really proud of myself. Granted, I needed her help to even make me aware that I was doing it, but I did stop myself from what could have turned into a full blown binge.

As it turned out, Michael had to order the part, but he was able to do a patch job so he could get to work this morning. I still woke up early so I could go pick him up if he ended up stranded, so this is going to be a long day. I'm still determined to make it to the gym, though.

So here's yesterdays meals, with my binge avoided.

Breakfast: Whole wheat tortilla, two scrambled eggs, and 1/2 an avocado. 320 cal

Lunch: Whole wheat pita stuffed with black beans, hummus, cucumber, and spinach with three eggplant patties.485 cal

Snack: Grapes. 26 cal

Dinner: Half a serving of kielbasa and rutabaga soup with a double serving of salad. The salad was so good, I had another serving later. 578

Snack: Two fudge pops. 80 cal


Daily total:  1489 calories

Also, I haven't had a Coke since last Friday. That's four straight days drinking only water! I haven't had the withdrawal issues I've had other times I'd given up soda, no headaches or grouchiness. I really love Coca-Cola, but I just can't afford the calories on a daily basis, and if they are in the house, I'm going to drink them. I may still have one occasionally (like when I eat out), but I'm never keeping them in the house again.

1307.51 / .5 / 1296.68